Zimbabwe police arrest 41 election monitors as votes are counted after widespread delays

Zimbabwe police said they arrested 41 workers for poll monitoring groups and seized the computers and other equipment they were using to tabulate the results of vote counting on Thursday in the southern African nation’s widely delayed presidential election.

Those arrested were working with two accredited monitoring organisations – the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network and the Election Resource Centre – which deployed more than 7,500 observers nationwide. Police spokesman Paul Nyathi accused them of being involved in “subversive and criminal activities” as part of an opposition plan to fabricate the results.

“These figures were being supplied by some observers and political party agents,” Nyathi said.

The arrests, made during raids on various locations including a hotel, were criticised by the group Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, which said the workers were carrying out their mandate as accredited election observers.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 80, who seeks a second term, used his presidential powers to extend balloting to Thursday night at dozens of polling stations after voting was delayed by up to 10 hours in many areas.

His main challenger, Nelson Chamisa, a 45-year-old lawyer who narrowly lost a disputed election in 2018, described the voting as a sham, saying the delays were aimed at disenfranchising voters in his urban strongholds.

Ballot papers were still being printed late on Wednesday, hours after voting should have closed. At other polling stations, counting of ballots began. Some frustrated voters slept at polling stations in the capital, Harare, snuggling under blankets or lighting fires to keep warm.